Simplified Production of Therapeutic
Psilocybian Mushrooms
Overview:
A simple method of producing a specific type of psilocybin
containing mushroom using commercially available products. The basic procedure
is to introduce mushroom spores into a ready-made kit and simply wait until
mushrooms appear.
This method uses only two essential components.
Growing mushrooms in this manner requires no prior knowledge of mushroom cultivation, biology or mycology.
The Mushroom:
Psilocybe cubensis is the mushroom of choice. It is readily available as spores (microscopic mushroom seeds) and produces a relatively large mushroom under a wide range of temperatures and other environmental conditions. In short, it is the easiest and most productive species of psilocybin containing mushroom that can be grown. This is the mushroom that will be the focus of this paper.
The Spores:
The spores of Psilocybe cubensis are easily found for sale on the Internet and in the back of drug culture magazines. They are usually sold either as prints (dry spores) or in hypodermic syringes (spore syringes). A spore syringe is needed for this method but with experience, prints could be used. It is important to purchase from a reputable source since the spores need to be absolutely clean and alive in order to work. Dead or contaminated spores will ruin the kit and produce no mushrooms. To avoid legal liability spores are usually marketed "for microscopy use only", but if purchased from a reputable vendor they should be viable and produce mushrooms. We have found that http://www.sporeworks.com has consistently clean spore syringes and excellent customer support. Unfortunately they cannot discuss growing Psilocybe mushrooms using their products. A reasonable price for a single 10cc spore syringe ranges from $10-20US.
The large number of creatively named varieties of Psilocybe cubensis can be confusing and overwhelming to the uninitiated. There is little real difference between varieties and all we should be concerned with here are strains that produce consistently in a mycobag. Strains proven to work in a mycobag are Ecuador, B+, and Puerto Rican.
The Mycobag:
This is the key to almost foolproof growing of Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms. It is basically a plastic bag partially filled with sterilized mushroom foods mixed with some inert materials for structure. All that is needed is the introduction of some viable mushroom spores, warmth and time. Currently, the only place that we are aware of that sells mycobags is www.mycofactory.com. There are several types of mycobags sold on this site, but the only one of interest is the Small Grain Based. Only the grain based mycobag will produce mushrooms completely contained inside the sealed bag. This eliminates the common problems of molds and humidity control that plague new mushroom growers.
The mycobag has a small plastic injection site with a self-healing foam disc on the side of the bag. After cleaning the exterior of the plastic covering the disk with rubbing alcohol or a spray disinfectant, the spore syringe needle is simply pushed through the disk and a small volume of the spore liquid (usually 2-5cc) is injected into the bag. In a few weeks the contents of the bag will become white with moldy looking mushroom mycelium. After the bag is completely white, mushrooms should start to form spontaneously in the bag. The mushrooms can be harvested by cutting open the top of the bag and plucking them out. After all the mushrooms are removed, mist the inside with water from a plant mister and clip or tape the top of the bag closed. More mushrooms should form within a few days. Repeat harvesting until no more mushrooms appear. If the bag is completely white, mushroom production can sometimes be accelerated by opening, misting and reclosing the bag just like at harvest time. The shock of fresh air and mist stimulates mushroom formation. Mycobags typically produce 14-30 grams of dried mushrooms before becoming exhausted.
The descriptive page for grain based mycobags on www.mycofactory.com gives a good detailed overview of the procedure with pictures. Unfortunately there are no images on their site of Psilocybe cubensis fruiting from within this type of bag. Since the instructions at mycobag.com are nearly complete we will not repeat them here. To help make the mycobag instructions more specific to the cultivation of Psilocybe cubensis we have provided the following information.
Missing Details:
The compact block of material inside the mycobag should be broken up with your hands immediately after inoculation or at least when some white growth is first noticed. This can greatly increase the rate of growth by spreading the mycelium around. Don't worry about damaging the white mycelium and don't be alarmed when it seems to disappear after mixing. It should recover in a few days. You can mix several times if necessary but allow at least 3 days rest between mixings.
Psilocybe cubensis is a tropical species and it likes it warm. The ideal temperature is 86F until the bag contents are completely white. It will tolerate temperatures down to 74F but growth will be much slower. After complete colonization the ideal temperature for mushrooms is 74-78F, which is around normal room temperature. If you must heat your mycobag try to avoid temperatures over 86F. Psilocybe cubensis dies at 106F. Don't place a mycobag directly on a heating pad or the bottom will dry out.
Patience is key here. Depending on temperature, syringe quality, cubensis variety and other factors, mushrooms can appear in as little as 3 weeks after inoculation to as long as 3 months. To help insure the production of mushrooms in a timely manner, several mycobags should be started using different strains with different syringes and place them in different locations to find what works best for you.
Recommended Sites for Materials:
Spore Works: (http://www.sporeworks.com) Reliable and high quality spore products. Problems with your microscopy spore samples are quickly resolved with material replacement. They will not answer questions regarding the cultivation of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Mycobag: (www.mycofactory.com) Will replace faulty or nonproductive mycobags.
See Also: http://www.clusterbusters.com/mycobagstone.htm For the simplified production of Therapeutic Psilocybian Mushrooms, the Sclerotia Forming Species
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